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Traveler Reviews

By: Polina 2015-02-17 11:47:35

I live in Los Angeles and have been to San Francisco numerous times. In the past I have done both: driving to SF from LA and taking a plane there. Both times it was pretty expensive. During this long ... More>>

By: rupesh 2014-12-11 10:32:59

I had very nice experience (LA-SFO) tour.
I will recommend this tour.
All stuff was fine, including hotels, place they covered, and time they were giving.... all were good.
Hotel: Crown Plaza.

By: Judith 2014-10-17 17:08:48

Excellent tour, it covers most of the beautiful tourist spots in San Francisco. My guests enjoyed it a lot and the package tour is inexpensive. Tour guide is very nice and a skilled driver. I recommen... More>>

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Pricing Policy

Buy 2 get 3rd Free (3 or 4 pax sharing one room): (1) The free person needs to pay for staying at LA/SF hotels and theme park admission fees (if applicable). (2) Cancellation of free-fare passenger must be made at least 3 days before departure. (3) No-show (or cancellation made within 3 days before departure) of free passenger incurs $100 penalty fee for the reserved bus seat.

Child Rate: Child rates apply to those 2-9 years and using existing bedding with 2 full-paying passengers (regardless of ages). Please note each hotel room can only accommodate 4 guests (adults or children).

Itinerary

Los Angeles - Santa Barbara - Solvang - San Francisco (425 miles)

We will depart from Los Angeles in the morning and drive along the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway. We will stop in Santa Barbara, CA to sightsee a bit and later at the Denmark Village in Solvang, CA. After touring Solvang, we will continue on to San Francisco.

Santa Barbara, CAMore»"The American Riviera" in southern California is known for its year-round warm weather. It features miles of beaches as well as historic landmarks like the Mission Santa Barbara, a still-functioning church founded by Spanish missionaries in the 18th century.«Less

Solvang, CAMore»Antiquated windmills and Northern Europeans-style architecture punctuate the little village's skyline. Brilliant sunshine, boundless open country and rolling hills- these are the characteristics of what the original Danish immigrants called "Solvang" or "Sunny Field".«Less

Denmark VillageMore»This small city near Santa Barbara, California is a popular California tourist spot due to its historical significance. The town was settled by Danish immigrants, and today serves as a portal to the past for curious visitors.«Less

Standard Hotel: Courtyard Marriott or Similar

Day 2

San Francisco - Stanford - San Francisco (36 miles)

In the morning we will visit Stanford University. Please note that new policies enacted by the school mean that on some days tour busses cannot visit the campus; see below for blackout dates.

After, we will tour the amazing city of San Francisco, CA. Guests may choose to take a Bay Cruise to experience the city's sights from the water. At around 3:00pm, guests may choose to either have some free time or join an optional extensive San Francisco tour, which will cover St. Mary Cathedral's, Twin Peaks, the Civic Center, and much more.

Stanford, CAMore»Stanford University is recognized as one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions. It covers an area of 35 square kilometers. It is the second largest university in the U.S..«Less

Stanford UniversityMore»Located in northwestern Silicon Valley, this famous research institution is not just one of the best schools in the United States, but one of the top universities in the world. Its large campus is a sight to behold.«Less

San Francisco, CAMore»San Francisco, the heart of central California's Bay Area, is famous for its iconic Golden Gate Bridge, its unique culture, and its position at the forefront of technological innovation. Beautiful weather and waterfront views await visitors as well!«Less

Golden Gate BridgeMore»The iconic arches of San Francisco, California's Golden Gate Bridge are known the world over as a symbol of California and the San Francisco Bay area. From movies to postcards, the Golden Gate Bridge is an American icon.«Less

Fisherman's WharfMore»This San Francisco neighborhood is a popular tourist area due to its lovely scenery and abundance of shops, restaurants, museums, and other attractions. The area also hosts several annual events, such as a July 4th fireworks show.«Less

Palace of Fine ArtMore»The grandiosely-named Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California is a huge, ornate outdoor structure that is part of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Its amazing architecture has made it popular for weddings and photography.«Less

Lombard StreetMore»Lombard Street is a famous road in San Francisco that is known for having eight steep, hairpin turns climbing up a one-block stretch between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets. The strange-looking stretch of road is a famous Bay Area spot.«Less

San Francisco Bay CruiseMore»In addition to a unique vantage point from which to view the Bay Area's skyline, guests will also get a look at "the Rock" Alcatraz Island -- once home to the famous Alcatraz Penitentiary -- and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.«Less

Extensive San Francisco TourMore»This in-depth tour of the city allows guests time at more of the famous Bay Area sights! See some of the most famous landmarks, such as the Twin Peaks, City Hall, Lombard Street, and more!«Less

For safety purposes, and to avoid long waiting time that causes severe delay of tour, from Mar.15, we'll NOT let passengers ride San Francisco Cable Car.

Admission (Optional): Adult $25; Child $25|Duration: Approx. 3 Hours

Standard Hotel: Crowne Plaza Union City or Similar

Day 3

San Francisco - Santa Cruz Monterey - Los Angeles (433 miles)

We will depart from the hotel today and head to beautiful little town of Felton in the California Coast Mountains, and enjoy an amazing ride on Roaring Camp Steam Train through the California Redwood Forest. Then head to picturesque Monterey, finding gentle sea breezes, meandering coastline, surging waves, interesting rock formations, and adorable seals and sea lions resting on the beach. We will drive along 17 Miles, a scenic highway that hugs the coast along a stretch of California's Highway 1. Then, we will pass by romantic Lovers Point. We will have the option to visit the Monterey Aquarium, a must-see for all visitors, and a home to over 6500 species of marine life including colorful fishes and deep-sea monsters. We will return to Los Angeles in the evening. Guests will be dropped off, bringing an end to this tour. See "Departure and Return Details" for detailed information.

Santa Cruz, CA

Roaring Camp Steam TrainMore»The steam trains that run along Roaring Camp Railroads' lines are authentic, dating back to 1867 and the protection of an area of redwoods known as the "Big Trees." The railway was established in 1875 to carry tourists there.«Less

Admission (Optional): Adult $29; Child (3-12 yrs) $23

Monterey, CA

17-Mile DriveMore»This breathtaking stretch of coastline along California's Monterey Peninsula takes visitors through a maze of beautiful scenery, unique wildlife, and amazing mansions. Enjoy shopping and dining along the way in addition to taking in the vistas.«Less

Monterey BayMore»The famous Californian Monterey Bay is world-renown for its beauty and wildlife. In addition to the scenic routes that huge the bay's shorelines, visitors can see animals like otters, bottlenose dolphins, and if they're lucky, even humpback whales.«Less

Monterey Bay AquariumMore»This large aquarium in Monterey, California is home to some of the world's largest and most unique exhibits. It was both the first aquarium to successfully keep a great white shark and cultivate a kelp forest for show.«Less

If you would like to join the optional activities, please pay the fee in cash to the tour guide. You cannot buy / use the tickets on your own or use City Passes. The tour guide will arrange the tickets for the group.

Starting on 3/15/2015, a Mandatory Fee will be collected by Guides on the Tour: Admission Fee for 17-Mile Drive and Stanford University $15 per person

Air fares between your city and the departure city.

All meals and drinks during the trip, although eating arrangements will be made by the tour guide.

Service fees for tour guide and bus driver (total $7.00/day per passenger).

Additional Note

Booking: Please book airline tickets after your tour booking is confirmed, which should be within 1 business day.

Language: All tours are escorted by professional bi- or multi-lingual tour and/or driver guides (English/Chinese). Depending on the number of passengers booked for a particular departure, tours and/or languages may be combined to operate the tours.

Hotel rooms: Each hotel room can accommodate no more than 4 guests (adults or children), and existing bedding must be used.

Policies

Confirmation

All purchases are subject to re-confirmation within 2-3 business days after booking. Please do not book airline tickets until you have received the confirmation.

Redemption

You will receive an confirmation email (e-ticket) after your order is received. Complete operator information, including local telephone numbers at your destination, are included on your e-ticket. You must print the e-tickets and take them along on your trip; they are your proof of purchase.

Terms & Condition

All purchases are subject to re-confirmation within 2-3 business days after booking.

Popular FAQs

The itinerary page has the hotel information. The tour in Las Vegas is Stratosphere hotel (2000 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89104). For packages of 5 days or longer, the actual hotel is listed on the tour voucher which is sent within 48 business hours after the booking.

All the tour available dates are listed online under "Departure Date" drop-down menu. As long as you can select the date online and complete the booking, that means that date is available. You can also refer to the calendar. All the available dates are shown in blue color. The tour gets sold out fast so we encourage to book the tour in advance.

Meals are NOT included in the tour price but our tour guide will arrange meal stops. Normally we stop at a plaza which has many restaurants to offer variety of food, or stop at a restaurant and passengers can order based on their preference.

Departure information, including time and location, is listed in the Departure And Return Details section of the tour itinerary. There is often a link to a map as well. Every e-ticket includes full pick-up time and location information. Please print out your e-Ticket and bring your ID to board the bus.

Taketours/Gotobus is a complete online travel company and uses a completely secure and automated booking system, therefore we can only accept bookings made online, using an authorized and valid credit card/debit card (visa,mastercard and amex)and paypal, check (by fax or mail) and money order (by mail).

If you want to cancel this tour, you can see the tour's cancellation policy on the same itinerary page. To complete the cancellation policy, you can e-mail to support@taketours.com. Your refund request will be answered and processed promptly. If you do not receive any reply, that means your request is not processed. Please contact us immediately.

You will find an electronic brochure for each tour on our website describing all activities and itineraries. Printed brochures are not available. If you do not find adequate information about a tour on our website, please contact our online help.
Contact customer support

Customer Q & As

What are the admission fees, service fees and private expenses that 3rd person need to pay?by Melay on 2014-11-17

A:

Although we offer 3rd person to join the tour as a free passenger, he/she needs to pay all excluded expenses just same as the other passengers. You can check the price excludes here: http://www.taketours.com/los-angeles-ca/los-angeles-to-solvang-san-francisco-and-yosemite-3-day-tour-473-178.html#exclusions

Taketours on 2014-11-17

Q:

how do you find out the total cost needed for the 3rd person?by tnt on 2014-09-07

A:

The 3rd person is free on sharing one room with the other two. Please kindly note the 3rd person also needs to pay admission fees, service fees and any other private expenses. TakeTours.com

Taketours on 2014-09-15

Q:

We are thinking about this trip. We are a family of 4. Children 14 and 16. What is the costing of this for us if we share one room or cost of two rooms? Thanks in advance.by francelle on 2014-09-01

A:

If 4 people share one room, cost is $379. If 4 people stay in two rooms, 2 in each room, cost is $560. Taketours.com

Taketours on 2014-09-15

Q:

I am booking for 3 people but the 3rd person is still not sure to join. Can I transfer the 3rd person&#39;s booking to someone else if he decided not to join?by J C on 2014-08-16

A:

Hi, yes, you can. If you want to change the person of this booking, please inform us 3 days before the departure date.

Taketours on 2014-08-17

Q:

Hi,
I am only single person and I would like to book 3-day SF tour. I dont mind sharing the room with someone. But I dont have anyone who can share the room with me. Can you please provide me such facility?by Vipul Sonavane on 2013-08-27

A:

If you are traveling alone, you can book a single-occupancy room. If you would rather have a roommate, you can find a travel companion through TakeTours by posting your requirements here.If someone is interested in traveling with you, you can co-ordinate this directly with the person.

Taketours on 2013-08-28

Q:

Which pick-up and drop-off location for this tour is nearest to the Veterans park Cypress, CA 90630?by Madhav on 2013-08-15

Would I have to pay extra fee if I have two check-in luggages with me?by Jaclyn on 2013-06-17

A:

No,you do not need to pay for extra fee.

Taketours on 2013-06-18

Q:

Hi, we would like to move on from SFO, will the bus be able to send us down from Yosemite to SFO city area? Tksby Netter on 2013-06-09

A:

No, the bus can not. You can book a separate one way bus service from Yosemite to San Francisco: Yosemite National Park:
3:45pm Yosemite Lodge
Select Arrival
San Francisco:
9:00pm Fisherman Wharf
One way is $85. You can book it at www.taketours.com

Taketours on 2013-06-10

Q:

Good mornning, I would like to know if the price its $120 per day? because I calculate for 2 adults and said $ 280... That means its $120 per person?by Sofia on 2013-05-17

A:

It's $120/ per person. So if you have 2 people, the total is $240.

Taketours on 2013-05-17

Q:

Hi, people shared bedroom with other guests? The Hotel is 2 stars? , and if people do not want to take the extra tour in SF, can have the free day?. Thank you.by Sofia on 2013-05-16

A:

1.There are two double beds in one room if there are two to four persons living in one room.
2.The hotel is about 2-3 stars.
3.Around 3:00pm, guests may choose to either have some free tme or join an extensive San Francisco tour.

Taketours on 2013-05-17

Q:

Hello i want to book a trip in july. are all trips done in buses?by victor on 2013-04-01

A:

Yes, you can book the trip in July online. Yes, the tour vehicle is standard tour bus.

Taketours on 2013-04-01

Q:

Does this tour go to mirror lake in Yosemite? I really want to see the mirror lake but I want to make sure because it's not listed in the detail.by Jihyeon on 2013-03-28

Hi,
Is there any restrictions on the luggage you take on the bus on the way there and back?by Hannah on 2013-01-28

A:

We allow each passenger to carry one check-in luggage and one carry-on bag. For guidance, the check-in luggage must not exceed 62 inches when adding the total exterior dimensions of the piece (length + width + height). If you have much extra luggage, you can inform us the luggage you have and we can help you double check.

Taketours on 2013-01-28

Q:

may i ask if we can bring my cat with us?? and we'll put him in the carrier.by mary on 2013-01-28

A:

Pets are not allowed on the buses with the exception of trained service animals that allow disabled customers to perform necessary activities.Service animals must be properly harnessed,they must bring a certificate, and should be under the direct control of the owner at all times.

Taketours on 2013-01-29

Q:

Hi there,
Can I stay for additional days to visit relatives and then join the tour again to return to LA?by Sue on 2012-12-30

A:

Sorry once you leave the tour, customers cannot join the tour again because it will be a new group of people. You have to arrange the transportation back to LA on your own. Thanks.

Note: This question will be posted on a public forum. We reserve the right to edit or reject questions that include inappropriate content, profanity, references to other retailers, pricing, or personal information.

Thank you for submitting your question!

We will answer your questions within 12 to 24 hours. You will be informed via email when your question is answered.

Read what other travelers think about this tour. What they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved, it's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.

I live in Los Angeles and have been to San Francisco numerous times. In the past I have done both: driving to SF from LA and taking a plane there. Both times it was pretty expensive. During this long Valentine's weekend I thought I would try this tour as it appeared like a very cheap option. I agree with most of the reviews that this tour is geared towards Chinese travelers. The guide speaks a lot in Chinese and a few words in English. It didn't bother me at all since I know that information already, but it may be a problem from English speaking travelers who are visiting California for the first time.
A heads up to all: no coffee or any drinks in the cups allowed on the bus!
We started from Fullerton Howard Johnson. If you are local, you are allowed to park your car there, just tell the front desk.
The seats on the bus are rotated every day: from front to middle to the back.
We stayed at Garden hotel San Jose airport. Since you have a transportation, it is not a problem.
One thing that was super annoying (and I knew it would happen), some people are always late to return to the bus.
Driving for so long is very exhausting. Also be prepared to wake up early every morning.
No time to eat breakfast, so have something with you. There is time for lunch and dinner. They take you to Chinese places, but you can find other places nearby to eat.
No use of restrooms on the bus, but plenty of stops. Ladies, have some paper napkins with you as many restrooms don't have any, only the hand driers, which have been proven to blow the germs all over you (as per Dr. Oz, lol).
Optional tours are okay for first time travelers as it is a great way to see the city. But you will not have a chance to ride a cable car, which is a must in my opinion for first time travelers :) Also we didn't visit Chinatown, but since I have been there before, it was not a problem for me.
If you opt out of the tours, the guide keeps in contact with you and you will be picked up at a specified location.
Overall, it is a great trip on a budget. So have realistic expectations, as it will not be a "Champagne trip", but it is a great way to explore many tourist places.

Excellent tour, it covers most of the beautiful tourist spots in San Francisco. My guests enjoyed it a lot and the package tour is inexpensive. Tour guide is very nice and a skilled driver. I recommend this tour company to all my friends and relatives.

Recently went for the 3-day tour of San Francisco and Yosemite. Overall a very good and informative tour. However, hotels where we were put up were the Airport Garden Hotel in San Jose and Days Inn in Modesto were not up to the desired standard. Starting the tour by 6:30am which deprived us of complimentary breakfast, though in the second place some arrangement was made to give a very early breakfast. Tour program can be slightly redesigned to start a little after 7am. Forcibly collecting service charges/tips for a fixed amount (7 dollars/person/day) at the end of tour also not a good practice. The amount of tips should be left to the discretion of the customer. However, the tour guide Mr. Lee was a very good and friendly person with fairly good knowledge of the places visited. He definitely made us very comfortable. Also recommend pick up and drop point in San Diego.

We like the driver who was very helpful and nice. We admired Kevin who did his very best and remained cool. He was under a lot of pressure, while the rest of the group waited in the bus more than 30 minutes because a family of 4 was late at the meeting place.

The tour was amazing and i was very very happy. Our tour guide,Carol, was a tiny amazing person.She was very polite and pretty (neat and tidy) that made our tour even more fun filled. I would definitely recommend this tour to all. Only negative point I felt was the San Francisco extensive tour and cruise. It's better if you skip those and roam around by your self in San Francisco public transport. Adding night attractions like Golden Gate Bridge at night would make this tour fantastic.

I took this tour on Memorial Day weekend since it's the perfect time of the year to visit Yosemite National Park. The waterfalls were in full flow with the melting snow.
About the tour Ggide:
He was a good spirited man, however his English skills were lacking. I could not understand 50% of what he was saying. I had to ask a few others on the bus and try to put together the full meaning of his sentences. Work on your English skills, Sean Wong. Also he did not have much knowledge about the places we visited. In fact, I knew more than him and was telling him about it. He was smoking EVERY TIME he stepped out of the bus, sometimes even in front of little children. Bad manners, Sean!! But otherwise he had a good and friendly attitude.
Accommodation:
Very good for the price!
Transportation:
The bus was not in good condition. No restroom access on bus. Window blinds were broken so I got tanned on the way back.
Itinerary:
Bus only stops at Chinese buffet for lunch/dinner which is extremely inconvenient if you're vegetarian. Reporting time on Day 3 (Yosemite) was 4:30am which is too early! Overall trip was good for the price but too many places were crammed into 3 days. Visit to City Hall in San Francisco is useless (just another government building) and can be skipped to allow more time at Twin Peaks, San Francisco. More time can be spent at Yosemite.
Overall worth the price, would definitely recommend!

My wife and I took this tour for her birthday. The tour amount was worth it for the experience and tour package. I only have some comments that I suggest they need to address. First, the tour bus we were in was not that good. Seat spaces are small for a long legged guy like me. The restroom on the bus is not allowed to be used for the reason that it might smell as what the tourist guide said. We envied other group tours for they have better buses than us. Next,most of the people who joined the tour are chinese (I realized that the touring company is probably owned by a Chinese too) and the tour guide is Chinese as well. I don't have anything against Chinese, but if the tour guide wasn't able to clearly speak English, I find it hard to understand (. Also, the tour guide only speaks 1 or 2 sentence in English then about 50 sentence in Chinese when stating some facts about a landmark or on places we are going to. Overall, I am satisfied with the tour though, the places we went really relaxes us and enjoyed it.

My husband and I enjoyed a lot on this tour which is 3 days tour. you get your money's worth for getting to see Santa Barbara, Solvang, San Francisco, and Yosemite. The cruise was also very good for getting to see the Golden Gate Bridge and an Island. Our tour guide, Erico, was so helpful, nice and he explained everything. The bus driver was also good. They stoped the bus at the right places for meal where we had more options. He gave enough time to explore everything and take pictures. Thank you!

This was my second tour with Take Tours and the experience was good. The itinerary gets a little hectic but it is justified considering the number of places we get to see. The accommodation is great and the tour guide is helpful. The one improvement I'd like to see is to be able to spend more time at each spot.

This was an amazing experience. We started a little bit late because we waited on people to get to the pick up location. The tour was great. Hotel was very nice. Matt did a wonderful job of guiding the tour. My mother and boyfriend enjoyed the entire trip. Will definitely take another tour. Thanks Matt :)

Good value! We had an experienced driver and a good tour guide, Matt. Our hotel for 2 nights,Courtyard Marriott, was nice. The tour was a bit rushed but that's how you can see everything in a short 3 days. We didn't had our lunch in Yosemite as we were advised not to- it's expensive and there isn't good food there. I will definitely recommend it for everyone if it's your first visit to San Francisco and Yosemite.

This tour is a good deal for the money that you pay. The places for know are amazing. You can't do it this tour if you don't enjoy it Chinese food or people. Kevin, our tour guy, sometimes forget explain in English. The good part of him is that he was patient. The hotel in San Jose.

It was an excellent tour for the value of money. Although there were some difficulties in understanding the guide's English and the last day was a long ride back to LA. But, I suggest this tour for the ones who are visiting LA-SF for the first time or with a family.

The tour covered a lot of places which was more than I expected. You get your money's worth and more. The tour guide-Gary and the driver- Reyes were superb. They worked very, very long hours. I felt bad for them though, because some people from my tour refused or were reluctant to give them the measly $6 tip per day.
My husband and I enjoyed our trip and will be taking another one pretty soon.

terrible smell in the front office and hallways of san jose airport gardens hotel( we were in bldg 8).
when we want to opt out of city tour, we were told we have to meet them at the downtown area because they are not coming back to the fisherman's wharf --so it is actually mandatory not optional. Overall, the trip was great. Tour guide Sevenand the driver were great and friendly. I will take another tour with Take Tours again.

The tour was great, San Francisco is a really nice place, one of the best that we visited during our travel. I also recommend the boat tour that is offered for some extra charge. It gives a beatiful view to the city and also to the bridge.

This tour was great for me and other people on board. Our tour guide Tony took very good care of everyone. They are the Best tour operators. Some things amazed me about the trip were :
1> Always On Time
2> Every tourist spot was covered and explained
3> Tour Guide TONY was like local gurdian to everyone
4> No other company can beat their price
5> Hotel was one of the Fine hotels in Fremont
6> Till the last point we were treated like guests.
So, i conclude by saying "A MUST DO TOUR" for everyone travelling west coast of USA.

Overall it was definitely worth its price. However do your research an find out exactly what you are going to do on your tour and only pay for the activities that are worth going to/you want to go to. My friend and I opted out on some activities to go exploring on our own and arranged a meeting time and place with the tour guide. This worked out well for us and we found that we were able to see a lot more than what the tour offered. We stayed at the citigardens hotel and it was worth what we were paying for the tour. The only complaint we have was at the end of the tour when people were being transferred between tour buses. Instead of the original 7pm drop off time we were only dropped back at Chinatown around 11pm at night. We want to thank our tour guide-Sean and our bus driver-James who made the trip fun.

My husband and I enjoyed this tour very much. You get your money's worth for in 3 days you get to see Santa Barbara, Solvang, San Francisco & Yosemite. Our tour guide, Terry, was very helpful, nice, and explained everything, when to meet back on the bus, how long we had at each stop, etc. The only bad part was the rush at meal times and not enough time to explore Yosemite. We didn't even get to stop at Half Dome. We would definitely return for more trips. Thank you.

The tour was awesome. Vivian our tour guide and Gary our bus driver were great. I would give this tour a two thumb up! The hotel was really nice and clean. Give a 5 and half stars for tour guide, accommodation, transporttins and itinerary! I totally recommendate to anyone.

Tour was fine, but was rushed to go to places and eating. I was disappointed in the meal time hours we should not be rushed to eat, this caused me my daughter got sick of eating in a rush and ending vomiting the whole night.
Also the hidden fees you get at the tour. Before my travel I asked an agent about any hidden fees and or extra charges she sent me the for that says $29/25 for the tour, and I was charged $36 also the tip was by family number that was not explained. The trip was just good for the drive time and the attractions other than that was no trilled about it.

Tour was nice in a way that they were able to include so many places in just 3 days. But stop at yosemite was about 2 hours and in that time you have to finish your lunch also so there isn't enough time for that place. Other than that time is enough. Mostly they will stop at Chinese restaurants when available. If you don't eat Chinese food it's better to bring your own food or search on GPS/internet to find nearby restaurants & you have to do it fast because you will have limited time. Bus accommodation is nice, you aren't allowed to use restroom on the bus but they will stop for bathroom break every couple of hours.I chose both extended tour. price for bay cruise it $36 when I asked our tour guide Mark he said it's changed and $29 on the website is old price. So just a heads up for you guys. Our hotel was Crowne plaza for both nights.

My family and I went to a SF tour and we enjoyed it. This tour has great itinerary.We went to beautiful places with excellent views and met good people. The hotel we stayed on was good. The places we ate were a bit expensive but it was worth it because they were very delicious. I hope to be on this tour next time.

we had a very enjoyable trip To SFO Santa Barbara, etc. The tour guide is very knowledgeable and accommodating. the driver is experienced and both of them are polite. We enjoyed every segment of our tour especially in San Francisco Boat Cruise and Yosemite. We also met a lot of friends from different states and
country. We will definitely book another tour with TAKE TOURS next year. It is not too expensive and money's worth.

There are many things this tour should be improved
Firstly, the tour guide should be more polite and more patience to his customers.
Secondly, the hotel is very far from downtown San Francisco which made it hard for us to explore the city by ourself during our free time in the second day evening.
Thirdly, the tour should give customers more time at Yosemite. One hour and a half overthere is not enough. As I experienced it myself, most people spent their first 30-45 at the cafeteria for lunch because we left the hotel super early that morning (6.15am) and most of us didn't have time for breakfast.
Finally, we cannot use the restroom on the bus which was a bit painful for some of us lol
Only one good thing of this tour is that you will have a chance to visit Santa Barbara, Solvang, and Yosemite. You won't be able to make it if you fly to SF from LA.
Therefore, if your english are OK and you want to explore San Francisco, I recommend you to take a plane and fly to SF instead of taking this tour. But I would recommend this tour to you if you want to visit places like Santa Barbara and Solvang once in your lifetime.
Some tips for this tour
- hot food and hot drinks are not allowed on the bus
- if your are staying at Marriot in Newark, try Newark Buffet for your dinner. It's great!!!

you will definitely get your moneys worth.hotel was clean, bus was clean.most of the crowd is older.the only problem is that the hotel we stayed in was in an industrial area so there was nothing to go out and do on your own at night. we would get to the hotel each day around 6pm, but most of the crowd was older so maybe that's why. other than that you will have a great time

This was my first time buying from this company and I had done numerous research, talked to people and read many reviews before going through with it and I am so glad I did! This company did not disappoint. The bus was extremely clean, our hotel room at Marriot was amazing and immaculate. The whole trip was such a great experience. There is really no other way we could have seen all the sites in any other possible way with the amount we paid. I still can't believe everything we got to experience for the great cost. The first day we stopped in Santa Barbara and had lunch in Solvang. By evening we had got to see Apple, Google, San Jose and checked in our amazing Marriot hotel. Day 2, we got to see beautiful San Francisco, Fisherman Wharf, the Boat Tour, the Extended Tour (Highly recommended), Castro Street, Stanford University, ETC. Day 3, Yosemite was amazing. Overall, I had a great 3 Full Days and got to see a lot of great places that I would have not gotten in any other way. The price was amazing, the people were so friendly and I want to give a big THANKS to our driver David and tour guide Tracy. They really went out of their way to go to places that I wanted to see but was not on the tour. They also were very effecient and accommodating to everyone. I will definitely be back on a different tour from this company. :)

The overall tour was excellent and we enjoyed this 3 day trip. The weather and sights were gorgeous. Its been a wonderful experience to San Francisco and Yosemite was amazing
I recommend to Take Tours
1) It would be great if we have some Movies played especially for kids
2) English speaking skills of the tour Guide.
3) It will be good for vegetarians to Stop in places where there are different cuisines, other than Chinese, especially vegetarian.
4) There should be NO charge for The extensive tour
Other wise the tour is superb, Worth money to the fullest. Looking forward with our next trip with "TakeTours."

Excellent tour and service! We had so much fun and were truly grateful to Jason and Felix, our tourist guide and driver for our May 25-27, 2013 trip.
Jason speak English fluently and we recommend him for his excellent service.
Felix, our bus driver is also one of the best - he is so helpful, drives safely and responsibly.
Thank you so much for all your hardwork and for making our trip truly worth it:-)

My mother, me and a friend went to this tour. It was a great experience. It was very informative, organized and were able to cover a places on top of what is listed in the itenerary. Harry, our tour guide has bubbly personality, well-informed(well versed in earth science, economics, history, urban planning, architecture design, agriculture) and professional. We stayed at Sheraton hotel. Ienjoyed the scenic view and story behind each places.

The Tour is excellent.Myself and my wife enjoyed a lot in the tour.The Tour guide also good.I recommend people to go by this tour,life will be cool and you can enjoy with hasslefree of driving.The driver and the guide both fantastic!!!!!!

My wife and I had a great time. The weather and sights were gorgeous. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott for two nights which was a great value for the price of the tour. The itinerary was well panned. My only issue with the tour was with the English speaking skills of the Guide. Josh was barely understandable and it seemed like he had a lot more to say in Mandarin than in English. That's probably because his command on the latter was weak. Nonetheless, he was very courteous and I'll give him an A for the effort.

I came back from this trip a couple days ago.
Overall it was a good experience, and it did seem rushed because we only had about an hour at each location to take in the sights. That includes all the major locations like golden gate bridge and Yosemite. We decided to opt-in for the cruise to go under the golden gate bridge and around alcatraz island but decided not to do the extensive tour. That left us with about 4 hours to venture into the town by ourselves. The extensive tour didn't seem appealing to our family so we walked to pier 39 where the sea lions were and had eaten a meal in chinatown. Our tour was able to do everything on the itinerary. It would seem that they took Hearst Castle out of the itinerary as past reviewers suggests.
I am satisfied with the trip however there were a few surprises. The first couple surprises were the surprise collection of money.
- On the first night, the tour guide asked us for cash if we wanted to go on the cruise and extensive tour. We came in thinking the price of the cruise was $29 but the tour guide told us it's now $36 because they changed companies and it is longer. However, when I checked the itinerary it was the same. The extensive tour was $25, which we didn't take and instead we were dropped off in China town.
- The last day there was another surprise collection of money. He asked for $18 from every person for the services of the tour guide and the driver. It is mentioned on the itinerary that there is a $6 per day charge for each person, but they weren't clear about it.
- We did not stay at a Courtyard Marriott or similar hotel. We stayed at CitiGardens hotel in South San Francisco. It was similar to a Motel 6 type.
- The hotel did serve breakfast but both days the bus had to leave before the breakfast started.
- The first morning everyone had be out by 6:30am, the second morning everyone had be out by 4:30am.
- Most of our lunch/dinner stops were Chinese buffets. You can still walk around to other restaurants.

We like this tour. We got to see a lot in a short time. 3 of us went but had only pay for 2 (3rd one free), which is less than the hotel cost had we gone by ourselves.
The only thing is that I wish the bus leaves a little later on the 3rd day.

Super Great! Henry, our be-dimpled tour guide was so nice, and made the atmosphere very relaxing. The driver, Mr. Wang is very responsible and drove safely. Extremely enjoyable and unforgettable family vacation. Excellent time management that we were able to explore places. Clean hotel, nice food. Great! Great! Great! Highly recommended. Our family gave 5 stars for Tour Guide, Accommodation, Transportation and Itinerary. Worth money to the fullest. Looking forward with our next trip with "TakeTours."

I and my wife went part of this tour and its been a good experience. Its a wonderful experience at the hotel Marriott and Yosemite was amazing. Thanks to the guide Jason who updated the history of all places before making it and I would be happy to get the guide explain to their people to remain silent while he updates in English so that the English speaking people can listen easily. I expect this to be better next time. Overall its been a wonderful experience to San Francisco and I recommend people to take this as its highly secure, enjoyable and good one. Our guide Jason ensured that he never miss anybody after break at the stops.

This was my first time on this trip and I had a great time. My mom had been on the trip before and said it was one of the best she had taken and she was right. Our guide, Austin, was awesome! He was very clear to set our expectations and communicated our itinerary daily. San Francisco was beautiful and Yosemite was amazing. It was worth waking up super early for. We were able to go in to the park and made three scenic stops within the park. They were all breathtaking. I highly recommend our guide and this tour!

My Parents took this tour and were really satisfied.We stayed in bay area for nearly 2 years and still had not seen as many spots in SFO as they did in one single day.As there were extreme cold conditions in Yosemite,the 3rd day trip to the national park was cancelled and the scenic 17 mile drive was included instead.I also recommend taking the SFO extended tour as according to my parents the city hall and twin peaks were amazing.

We went on this tour in May 2012 and we had so much fun and it was especially thanks to the AMAZING tour guide we had. His name was Nelson and he was just GREAT! My mom and I would like to thank him for his kindness and for making this trip unforgettable. You get to see so many things during this trip and you are going to love it! Thank you :)

our bus driver(Kun)was fantastic!! took care of his tour bus passengers. He made everyday count and our driver(Gary)very patient and great driving to all locations.
Overall Me and my daughter had unforgettable time Thank you! :)

This tour Dec 15th to 19th was value for money. It gives a quick overview of what SFO is like in the short time. The Hearst Castle was also very interesting. Accomodation although quite a distance from SFO, was compensated by being four star.

We joined the 3 day tour to Solvang, San Francisco and Yosemite on 15th Dec 2012 and the tour is fanstatic, money worth with lots of fun. Tour guide, William was friendly and he spoke also in English besides Chinese which is a real benefit to us cos we dont speak much Chinese. Looking forward to join the tour again from San Francisco to Vancouver in our next trip if there is one. Thank you

We just got back from the tour which is worth every penny. The whole trip was very well arranged. Our tour guide Larry with Seagull is very knowledgeable, nice, and thoughtful. He speaks beautiful English, Mandarin, and several Chinese local dialects. We were very pleased with everything and with the 3 optional tours.

It is a good experience and the tour guide Edmund is knowledgeable and his experience in the tour makes a great difference with good time management. Highly recommended especially for non fussy travellers

I took this tour in Nov (22-24) 2012 with my wife. I booked this tour by reading the previous reviews. The tour started on time. During the tour, the guide (Alan) told us that we are going Yosemite first as Hearst Castle may be closed due to the holidays. We reached Yosemite during later half of the day and it got dark soon so we could not enjoy Yosemite as much as we expected. During the journey Alan asked us to give $54 per head, out of that $25 per head was for ferry (boat) ride from Fisherman warf. We cound not understand for what he charged the extra $29. I even asked him, but he could not explain why he chared $54. I thought he simply took $29 without any proper reason which was disappointing. Second day of the tour was totally in SFO. We enjoyed the 2nd day of tour a lot. The hotel where we stayed was really good. We liked the hotel. 3rd day we left hotel very early in the morning(5 am) to go to Hearst Castel and Slovang village. After Hearst Castle we reach SLovang village. The time allowed in Slovang was just 1 hour and that inclueds our lunch time as well. One hour was very-very less for Slovang. We could not see the village. They should give more time there. The seat in the bus were rotated each day which was nice. Alan took $6 per head per day as service charge. I think they should tell mention in the tour details about the extra money they charge. Overall, i am satisfied with the tour.

We were staying in Irvine with family and wanted to take a few days out to see San Francisco and Yosemite without having to hire a car, so this trip was perfect for us in that regard, and very reasonably priced.
However, 95% of the commentary was in Chinese. I think it should have been made clear before we booked that this would be a bilingual tour. Also, our tour guide Tony (although very pleasant) did not speak good English at all, meaning that this was actually a Chinese tour with just a few comments in English. We had to check with him each time we got off the coach for a stop what time we had to be back, because even this basic information wasn't clear from his English commentary.
There was not nearly enough time at Hearst Castle, which was amazing. We didn't do excursions in San Francisco as wanted a day at our own pace (Be warned if you choose to do this: the hotel is not in San Fran! You'll need to get a cab to the train station and then public transport to get into the city!) A good taster of Yosemite for those that haven't been there before, like us.

Hi Anna,

We're sorry for any difficulties you may have had in regards to language and communication with your guide. This tour does however indicate that an English/Chinese speaking guide is provided in the "Additional Notes" section of the tour page.

"Language: All tours are escorted by professional bi- or multi-lingual tour and/or driver guides (English/Chinese)."

My parents has taken this tour. I was little skeptical to send them when I booked this tour but I guess, the coverage was quite excellent and that's what my parents want. The tour is covering most of places in SFO. They liked the tour very much. Food was a problem for them some times, but we have given them some cooked food to eat, so not a problem! I would definitely recommend this tour.

3-Day Solvang, San Francisco and Yosemite Tour from Los Angeles $125 Tour Code: 473-178 We highly recommend this trip. It is worth every penny. Our tour guide Vincent was very efficient. The weather was outstanding. We took this trip in the beginning of September. We plan on taking other trips.

We took this 3day Solvang, Hearts Castle, San Francisco and Yosemite tour last July 25-27. The tour was such a blast... too much fun. Our tour guide Larry was so funny, approachable and helpful even our driver. They're really doing their job well. Our choice of hotel was superb. We checked in at Residence Inn Marriott. I highly recommend this tour and this company. Its worth every penny.

Our family enjoyed this tour. Our tour guide, Vincent, is very nice, accommodating and knowledgable about the spots we went. He goes out of his way to accommodate the guests. He even gave us stuff from the places we went to, like Danish crackers from Solvang and postcards from SF. When he learned that there is going to be delay caused by traffic, he bought DVD to play in the bus so we won't be bored. Hearst Castle was a bit rushed though. The tour was about 40 minutes, leaving us little time to explore the area on our own. Yosemite is also nice, but try to come in March or April because when we went in Summer (Sept), yosemite falls does not have water. Hotel was ok and the bus is clean and looks new. Our driver was also nice. Overall tour was great!

Our family enjoyed this tour very much. Out tour guide, Vincent, was very nice, accommodating, helpful and knowledgable about the spots we went. He goes at out of his way to accommodate the guests. He even gave us some stuff from the places we went to, like some Danish crackers from Solvang and postcards from SF. Also, when he learned that there's going to be delay because of heavy traffic, he even bought DVD so we won't be bored. Hearst Castle was a bit rushed though, especially because the grand room tour was about 40 minutes and we only had a few minutes left to go around the place on our own. I suggest go to Yosemite in March or April to see the falls. When we went, it was summer time so there's no water on the yosemite falls.. but yosemite is still nice even though you do decide to go in the summer. Hotel was ok. Bus was clean and our driver (Jackie) is also nice. We had a great time!

Trip was pretty great. We stayed at the Hilton hotel and it was very nice. Henry was very helful and very kind. Over all both my daughters and I had a really good time. We can't wait for the Grand Canyon/Vegas tour. Downside was that we could not use the bathrooms on the bus so we tried really hard to not drink so much water for those 3 days.

This tour is awesome! Tour Guide Troy and the driver are very kind and funny, the hotel was so good. I really enjoyed this tour and I met a lot of many friendly tourists. It's worth it to take this tour!

The price of this tour is very reasonable. My husband and I had a wonderful time and saw much more than we ever expected.
Our tour guide Larry was fantastic. He put us totally at ease and was very polite.
The hotels were we stayed for 2 nights were both outstanding, very clean rooms.
We highly recommend this tour to our family and friends.

The price of this tour is very reasonable. My husband and I had a wonderful time and saw much more than we ever expected.
Our tour guide Larry was fantastic. He put us totally at ease and was very polite.
The hotels were we stayed for 2 nights were both outstanding, very clean rooms.
We highly recommend this tour to our family and friends.

We took this trip (3 day to Hearst, Solvang and San Francisco) in May (1st time) and for the money it is a well worth trip. Our tour guy Frank did excellent and was very informative. The only downfall was not being able to use the restroom on the bus and having to walk up a steep hill to see the worlds most crookedest road (lombard). Hotel was good, a little far but good.
Overall would take another trip especially if Frank is hte tour guy.

So this was our second time in California and we decided to try a bus tour. This was our first and it was really fun! We went on the July 9-11 tour and Troy was an excellent tour guide! He was kind, funny and informative! George the driver was a bit of a creep. I wish we had stayed at Solvang longer and stayed at Hearst Castle shorter. We did not go to Hearst Castle and waiting around there isn't fun. There isn't much to do other than the usual gift shop and food. So instead of H. Castle we took on the advanced San Fran city tour and the boat cruise at the pier. I recommend to go to H. Castle and the advanced city tour, instead of what we did. The boat cruise was just took us under and around the golden gate and around alcatraz. But if you really want to go on a boat cruise I say go to another boat cruise that offers a tour inside of alcatraz. Yosemite was alright, definitely not as good as the Sequoia National Park, but we did get good photo ops there. Best part of the trip was definitely San Fran and the advanced city tour! Takes you to Twin Peaks, 6 sisters, St. Marys Cathedral, around Castro/ gay district, city hall (most expensive city hall in America), palace of fine arts. Hotels we were taken to were Microtel (never heard of it until now and was ugly) and Crowne Plaza Hotel (very pretty!). The dinner buffet for the second night (we decided to have fast food for first night because the buffets are actually pretty expensive) was great although the location looked really poor. Overall really good tour! Didn't feel so rushed and well organized. Thank you Troy!

Did tour 7/18/12. Guide Troy and driver Boris were great. Very good tour. For the price, can't complain about Fremont Marriot & Modesto Days Inn. Restroom queues take too much time out of sightseeing stops especially for senior ladies. Long queues is because everyone wants to relieve themselves because use of onboard restroom is not allowed. This same problem on our trip to Yellowstone 2 years ago. This policy should be reviewed by the tour operators. It is a health and safety hazard, I.e., nonavailability of onboard restrooms.

My family go all over with your tour groups. Very reliable, comfortable and affordable. Every
tours we took, the driver and tour
guides are very informative, courteous,helpful and cheerful.
Excellent service. This was our second time in SF tour.
I recommend very very highly.
Keep up the good service.

We took this tour from May30-June 1. Our tour guide Jimmy was helpful and informative, although he failed to mention that no coffee is allowed inside the bus, so anyone who bought coffee has to throw them away. Our bus driver - George is worst. Never helped in loading and unloading the luggages, just stood and watched the tourists handle their bags at the bottom of the coaches and grabbing theirs on the first nite which was already 10pm. Overall 4 stars for Jimmy and 1 star for George.

The tour covers Solvang, Hearst Castle, San Francisco Bay & City Tour, and lastly Yosemite in rush-n-hurry, but no complains with the price. Our tour guide 'Zhang' was good but not organized.Not more than 30-minute stay at any location. No advance reservation in Chinese buffett, thus people had to go other restaurants, which created chaos, to pick 'em back in the bus. No market place around hotel, to stock-up some supplies for kids. Hotel serves free breakfast at 7:00 AM, but you 'll have to leave at 6:30AM for the day-tour. Just for advice, carry cash for tours and Tips, as no chance to find any ATM. Ladies ! Good Luck with the rest-rooms.

Nelson is the best tour guide! We enjoyed our 3 day tour! There are 5 people in our group and everyone is happy about him and SUNNY! we had fun. Although i can't say the same for Frank with bus # 1089- as we changed bus to be dropped off. My friend tried to get into the bus and he barked at them and said wait! while he let other people to pass through, even people from my old bus! This is so upsetting as we seen him favor these people who greeted him in Chinese! The driver also just throw the luggage haphazardly! We felt that these people just want to get it over with, since they will not get anything from us! Frank was so RUDE, UNPLEASANT and LAZY! He will not make any effort whatsoever, when he talk he will just sit on his chair, rather than facing the passengers, then all of sudden he just disappeared after LAX stop. The new guy spoke no English! We ended up getting at our stop at 9:40 compared to their itinerary of 6:40 all in all we felt abandoned and wish we stayed in Nelson's bus! 5 stars are for Nelson! nothing for Frank.

I truly recommend this affordable tour. The hotel was very comfortable and nice. Our tour guide Nelson was sweet, informative and fun. My family and I had an incredible time overall. Northern California was truly great! Solvang, the views at Hearst Castle, the San Francisco bay & city tour and Yosemite were all amazing! So much to see... our photos and memories are priceless. Thank you gotobus.com for making this happen. We had an awesome time!

Tour was well worth for the money spent but I think they need to trim the second day as we reached hotel at 9.30 and were supposed to leave by 5 in AM, the visit to Chinese buffet at 8.30 pm was totally unnecessary so was visit to Stanford. I think it will be more enjoyable if every one is well rested. Hearst castle is must see but Bay cruise and city tour are not, instead spend time to explore fisherman's wharf and market street in San francisco.

Our 1st time doing a bus tour with my family... was very overwhelmed how accomodating our tour guide Henry was! Very friendly and kept the tour entertaining-funny. He attended all concerns for all 50+ passengers even assisted intaking pictures =). It was the best tour experience ive ever had. Definitely will do it again and will refer to friends. It was affordable, and stress-free compared to customizing vacation plans on your own this is the BEST travel plan ive ever made... next trip HAWAII!!!

TakeTours takes care of every detail, which makes for a carefree vacation. Meal stops are always at large strip malls with Asian buffets, hamburgers, pizza, & sandwich shops, a market, and a dollar store. Bathroom stops every 2 hours or so. Mandatory $6 daily tip for guide & driver to share is well deserved. Directions always clearly given in English & Chinese. Take cash for optional tours & activities! Sam Cao is a fun host. Thanks, TakeTours, for giving us a great value for our money! Up next: Yellowstone!

I took this tour in January 2012 and enjoyed San Francisco the most-the steep streets, vibrant buildings, and colorful characters. At Fisherman's Wharf, check out the sourdough bread creatures at Boudin Bakery. The sparkling SF skyline at sunset from Treasure Island is truly a calendar-picture worthy view. We ate dinner at asian buffets most days. Our tour guide Mark was friendly, engaging, and very patient. Thank you for this interesting experience!

Best Value with the hotel and no driving to do. The tour guide was very accommodating with our request. We had 3 total tour guides on the trip. One of them (on the job training) while giving information in
Chinese for a long time, we were expecting the same amount of information in English but it was just in a few words. Like a paragraph = a sentence. Unfair. At one point we were saying, "English" good thing the main tour guide heard and got the microphone and started talking. My point is, we are all paying and we need to get the same amount of information. Exhausting but so...soo..worth it.

Tour guide was Sam Cao. If I could give him a grade it would be an A... this tour was great we didnt have to drive, just enjoy. :) We went to Solvang , Hearst Castle and San Fran. Everything was timed and on time. We got to stay at the Marriott very clean and nice. FOR THE AMT OF MONEY WE PAID IT WAS VERY WELL WORTH IT. Thank you very much and we will be coming back.

My husband and I took the tour with our relatives who were visiting America for the first time. The tour had a lot of great points and a few bad points. The bad parts were: The tour guide asked us on the bus if we wanted to purchase the excursion tour for each stop but said we could decide when we got to the destination, saying we could buy tix from him or at the tour box office ourselves. He didnt mention the tours usually sell out, so when we got to Hearst Castle, we couldnt buy tickets to go in! Instead, we had to walk around outside for more than 2 hours while the rest of the group was inside. To make it worse, he insisted that this rarely happens, then later said it happened 3 times in the last 3 days! If he had just said there was a possibility that it would sell out, we wouldve bought the tix beforehand, but we didnt. In fact, he later told us that the reason we spent the first day at Yosemite instead of Heast Castle and Solvang is because all the Hearst Castle tours were sold out. BE AWARE THAT THE ITINERARY CAN CHANGE FOR ANY REASON / WITHOUT ANY WARNING. The second bad thing that happened is that when we were in San Francisco, the tour guide told us the itinerary for the day then changed it midday when he couldnt get enough people to take the separate excursion tour. We were expecting to get into Chinatown in the a.m. and again in the afternoon per his original itinerary so we held off buying souvenirs in the morning so we wouldnt have to lug them around. He didnt even tell us we werent going back to Chinatown - just started driving back to the hotel. When we asked him about it, he just said, "we dont need to go again!" So why did he say that was the schedule for the day??! Both are not big deals, but if we knew ahead of time that some of the stops will change due to the tour guide's whims, we wouldnt have been so upset about it. Now the good things: The price for the amount of stuff you see/do is AMAZING. We have been to all of the stops on previous vacations ourselves yet we still learned and saw new things on this tour. The hotels are GREAT-clean,nice,and such a relief at the end of a long day of sightseeing. The tourguides are nice, friendly, and very knowledgeable. The food stops are usually in an area where you have a choice of a chinese buffet and several fast food type places like Subway or Jack in the Box. Nothing fancy but still good. We even bought some food to take on the bus at grocery stores at the stops. We took our Egyptian relatives on the tour and they LOVED it. MOst of the people taking the tour were from other countries like China, Japan, and India---we were the only Americans...we enjoyed talking with our fellow passengers and we are planning to go again with my parents despite the minor probs described above. I have also recommended this tour to lots of coworkers - it's a great deal as long as you know what to expect!!! I still give it 5 stars

The tour was pretty amazing. Solvang was a revelation and so was the Hearts Castle! It's true, I left my heart in San Francisco!!! Mark was a great tour guide. For its price - well worth it. Highly recommended!!!

We took this tour on 4th July weekend and expected it to be a hassle free trip. Our tour guide JUNYI was awesome...
For the price you pay(we paid $130, since it was a long weekend) you might not get a better deal than this...
San Francisco and Yosemite was awesome... however Solvang and hearst castle was OK.
I recommend this tour.

A fast-paced, but very enjoyable trip. Our tour guide Kathrin was very efficient and full of knowledge at every location that we visited. Not one of my friends had ever heard of TakeTours.com before, and all are very interested in trying it again. Stayed in a very good hotel and received all around good value for the money.

What an amazing trip! I took my fiance on this trip for his birthday and we had a blast. You get to see so much in 3 days. It was exhausting but worth it. We couldn't believe how nice the hotel was and how good the price was for the entire trip. Our tour guide was named Alan and he was just amazing. He made the trip fun! We are definitely going to take another tour in the future. The only downside of this trip was because we didn't get to see that much in Yosemite but what we did see was awesome. I definitely am suggesting this trip to all my friends!

This is my third trip with Gotobus. San Francisco is always a great place to visit. We hit some snags on during our trip due to some unforseen weather conditions and congestion due to the Memorial Day celebration when we headed to Yosemite but our tour guide, JUNYI, made this trip truly enjoyable. She is very accommodating and awesome! Salvador, our driver is hilarious! I will take this trip again for sure! :)

My family went on this trip for the Memorial Day weekend and I find this trip very enjoyable. There were minor snags due to weather issues but our tour guide (Junyi) was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. This is the third trip I've taken with Taketours and Junyi is the best tour guide by far.

"Sea Gull Holidays" was the tour provider. Our tour guide (Tony) barely spoke English and it was hard to understand him. We stayed in Crowne Plaze Hotel which is located in Oakland, more than an hour's drive from San Francisco. The San Francisco city tour is not included in the price you pay. We were asked to pay 25 USD per person for the city tour. We chose to make our own way around the city. Basically, we got what we paid for in this situation. For the cost of transportation and 2 nights hotel stay, the price is OK.

for some reason they charged more for the city tours and hearst tour versus buying the ticket from hearst directly. not sure where the extra $ goes?? to the tour guide?? the company?? also, when they say "international buffet" expect it to be chinese buffet. we had dinner at this buffet place named "happy buffet" and the food was lousy, service was poor and they ran out of food. it's not Take Tour's fault but i won't be surprised if there's a deal going on between the restaurant and the tour co. or at least the guide/driver so there's no excuse for the restaurant to be unprepared for big groups of tourists coming, they get good business from these tour buses dining there, they could at least serve decent food. their restrooms even had watery hand soaps in condiment bottles!! pls. Take Tours/Go To Bus, pick better restaurants!!!

This tour was great. We had fun all along. The driver and the guide(Ariel) were very helpful and friendly. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel which was very beautiful. I will recommend this tour to all my friends.

6 of us girls went on this trip and we all had a great time. It was very affordable for all the things we did. Like many of the other people that commented, we went to a lot of chinese buffets. I can see what some people wouldn't like it. My group were very flexible, so we didn't care. Mark and Tana were are guides and were super nice.

We totally enjoyed SFO tour, no doubt about it.Guide and bus driver so friendly and understanble. They put good efforts to bring all 60+ people on time as well satisfing all people. I recommended to our friends, they are planning go Vegas and Grand cannon tour.
My small suggestion is: If guide talks in only few important things that will be nice. Keep on talking both languages in small small things, some people misses important things.

Great tour for the price! Well organized although very hectic schedule. It covered main tourist attractions and even had a bonus trip to Stanford University. Richard and Jake, our guide and driver were helpful. However, meal stops are always in Chinese restaurants. It would be better if meal stops were in an area that had several restaurants to choose from. Anyway, still a good tour overall.
Have recommended this tour to friends and family.

this tour is awesome.this is my first time to use this tour and i'll do it again! our tour guide paul is very nice and very caring and so with the bus driver. the only thing i dont like is too much chinese food.

This tour bus company is great! It saved us a lot of money. I just can't imagine how many places we went to in 3-days ! This is our second time using gotobus.com. The first one was Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam tour. This second tour included SFO, Solvang and Yosemite. We didn't get to Yosemite because of weather and road condition, although the tour compensated a tour to 17-Mile Drive/Monterrey. I loved everything! Except, we were taken to Chinatown or Chinese Restaurant for lunch and dinner. Last, some need reminding about common courtesy about getting on and getting off the bus for everyone's safety! People getting off the bus get out first! Please!

The trip was ok. There was this family who kept making us late for everything. That was not the tour guides fault, but I wish he would have followed up on his threat of leaving them. For some reason, we stopped at a Church that was closed and stayed their for a while. I don't know why. It wasn't a nice Church or anything. Even so, I did get to see a lot of wonderful things. I only wish the bus would have spent more time in China Town.

It was a good tour. We saw almost all of San Francisco. We couldn't do the Yosemite as there was snowfall but it was compensated by the visit to 17 miles tour. The 2-night stay in Courtyard Marriott was the best. The guides need to improve on their English though.

SFO and Yosemite no doubt about it, this is pretty awesome tour... the Herste Castle at Solvang... and the Lombard Street tour... I will never forget. Well worth the amount you spend. I would recommend the tour to everyone. We liked it a lot.

The 3 of us ladies went on a 3 days San Francisco/Yosemite trip this week, it was tiresome but interesting to see God's beautiful creation. It was very affordable. The Hotel-Courtyard Marriot was great and our tour guide Leslie was knowledgeable and excellent, he gave us tips on where to buy GOOD BUYS and where to eat. Wow! so many places to see in just one trip....very systematic and good schedule.... I highly recommend to everyone. Thank you.

My wife and I joined this tour on the 13th Oct. A nice tour and I like all the optional tours too but my wife does not enjoy the extended optional city tour. SF is a very nice place with beautiful houses, not to miss.

We were a group of 7, six single ladies and one young guy. I am very happy we took time to go and plan to go again to other places that this company offers. It was well worth our time and money which did not cost us much. I am encouraging others to make time and enjoy this beautiful world that God made for all of us.

My family and friends of 14 people really enjoyed the tour. It was well organized. Our tour guide, Leslie Lee was very knowledgeable on the places we went to. He even gave additional info/hightlights on these places. He was very patient and caring. I will recommend this to friends. We really enjoyed the tour especially Yosemite. It was astonishing! Thanks for the awesome experience.

I went on this tour in Late August and I was very pleased.. this tour went beyond my expectations. We got to see San Francisco like we never could have on our own. The tour guide Tina was so caring, patient and understanding. I liked the options we had to go around or stay with the tour group for certain optional tours or dining. The hotel was definitely pleasant as well. I enjoyed this tour very much and am planning another tour in November :)

It was a great tour; I went with 6 of my family members. Very organized, Marriott Hotel is perfect. The Chinese restaurants were great for us. The amount charged was very affordable with the kind of facilities they have provided. We loved our tour guide Mike and driver Sean. They are wonderful. Mike was very clear about other charges. We didn't have a problem with the 2 languages. I've already recommended this tour to several of my friends. I am planning for my next tour, that will be to Yellowstone.

Hello,
I was on a business trip in LA and everything was new for me. The tour organized by these guys was really great. They made sure that most of the destinations are covered and moreover, the amount charged was very affordable with the kind of facilities they have provided.
I am planning for my next tour that will be probably to Las Vegas.

It was a organized trip and we were allocated rooms at the courtyard Marriot. Only problem was that for every meal we were taken to Chinese restaurants. People from other countries might not feel comfortable. The rest was fine.

I wished we could spend some more time at Yosemite. Tour was really good, San Francisco was awesome, they covered many many places. The hotel was good too.
Only problem was the limited amount of time.
And its was too hard to us to take Chinese food on three days.

I've already recommended to several of my friends. Everything is great, especially our tour guide. We also had an excellent driver. I am considering coordinating my people in my church to have bus tour instead of renting a vehicle for tour.

This is my first time going on a bus tour. At first, I was hesitant due to some negative experience I heard, especially the hotel, but my companions and I enjoyed the ride. I have gone to San Francisco but never really done a city tour. It is quite an experience. Told my friends about our experience and have recommended it. We are already planning our summer 2011 to Yellowstone. Our tour guide, Hank, is very helpful. Only thing I could recommend is to have everyone in the bus join together to do some entertainment such as singing karaoke, bingo, or such since we will be together throughout the tour. This will keep all of us occupied during the long drive. We stayed in Crowne hotel in Union City and were quite impressed by the bus tour hotel selection. I didn't expect the hotel to be in such a good condition.

This is our first time booking with GotoBus! We really had a great time. We enjoyed the trip. Nice busy three days. Our tour guide Mark was very fun. He knows his responsibilities and everything was on schedule. Hotel was very neat and clean. I'll recommend this tour to all my family members.

I truly enjoyed my trip. I went alone, and met sooo many beautiful and kind people. Only thing that upset me is that the timeline itinerary is not provided before hand. Also my tour guide, who spoke both English and Chinese, gave very poor instructions to those who could only speak English. I always had to ask a fellow trip member to regurgitate the instructions given to them in Chinese. Other than that, GREAT!

We write from Argentina. We went on your tour from San Francisco to Yosemite. It was in December 09. Our guide was called Marcos. We enjoyed it a lot it and are lucky to know you. We came to the conclusion that it isn“t necessary to take a lot of money with you to have a nice time and in the future we will take again. We recommend Go to bus to our friends. We enjoyed it a lot and met in Marcos a very kind person and we were grateful for him. Everything was perfect and fun. Thank you very much for the experience.